Walker stumbles at the last

Hampshire captain Shane Warne has opposite number Rob Key caught behind

Hampshire held their nerve to edge a thrilling two-run victory at Tunbridge Wells and depose Kent at the top of the Friends Provident Trophy South Conference.

Hampshire appeared to be easily defending a total of 220 all out when their hosts stumbled to 136 for eight - but it took all Shane Warne's nous in the field to withstand a fightback engineered by Matthew Walker (83) and Ryan McLaren.

Kent gradually became the more likely winners in an all left-handed ninth-wicket stand of 69 in 13 overs, dominated by tailender McLaren, who made a career-best 43.

When Walker faced up to the third ball of the final over, needing just three for victory, the Spitfires were still favourites.

But after the middle-order batsman had done so much of the hard work, he played across a straight one from Chris Tremlett and was last out lbw.

Warne had taken three important wickets and a neat catch at slip but perhaps deserved most credit for his expert - if at times painstaking - marshalling of his field as the Hawks moved into the lead in a congested division, with just one round of matches remaining before the semi-final places are decided.

The outcome was tough on Walker, so nearly back as a match-winning hero after missing Kent's LV County Championship Division One match against Yorkshire with a thumb injury.

There was already a strong indication - in medium-pacer Darren Stevens' figures of 2-19 off 10 overs - that Hampshire's stop-start total had given them an even chance on a slow pitch.

Put in on a sunny morning, an 82-run stand between Dimitri Mascarenhas (50) and Nic Pothas provided much of the visitors' substance in an innings which shipped its last five wickets for 15 runs in only 15 legitimate balls.

Hampshire established almost a five-an-over momentum when the ball was hard - but as wickets began to fall, so did the run-rate.

After a 60-run second-wicket stand between John Crawley and Michael Lumb, Hampshire started to stutter significantly, the left-hander lbw aiming to leg in Stevens' second over.

Crawley was next to go, easily caught at backward point via a faulty reverse-sweep at James Tredwell, the first of three wickets to fall for the addition of only 13 runs.

Sean Ervine's forward defence was undone by low bounce from Stevens which knocked back middle stump, and Chris Benham went lbw trying to sweep Tredwell.

Sixth-wicket pair Pothas and Mascarenhas had to start again in a hard-working stand which ended with the former’s mistimed club at the returning Yasir Arafat (3-48).

The last five overs contained more than their share of one-day thrills and spills, including Warne running himself out for a duck and Tremlett also short of his ground for no score, trying to complete a second run for his partner.

Mascarenhas succeeded where Crawley and Pothas had narrowly failed, hitting two fours and two sixes in his 55-ball half-century.

Dimitri Mascarenhas is bowled by Yasir Arafat immediately after reaching his half-century

But he was bowled next ball, the first of two victims in the final over as Arafat closed the innings two deliveries short of the full allocation.

The hosts’ reply then lurched to 39 for four, principally against the new-ball bowling of Stuart Clark (3-42).

Geraint Jones went lbw early on, number three Andrew Hall lost his off stump pushing across the line at Tremlett, and Stevens and Martin van Jaarsveld fell to Clark in the 10th over, skying catches to extra-cover.

Walker and Robert Key were therefore charged with emulating the earlier efforts of Mascarenhas and Pothas - and they did so to the tune of 65 runs in 15 overs, until Warne brought himself on.

After an opening maiden to Walker, the master leg-spinner was hit for successive boundaries by Key but immediately got his revenge on his opposite number, who edged a leg-break behind.

Warne's variation ball soon did for Joe Denly - and he would have had Walker on 44 too had Mascarenhas clung on to a tough outfield catch off a slog-sweep.

Two balls later, the same shot earned Walker his 75-ball half-century.

When Tredwell then steered Shaun Udal's off-spin to Warne at slip, the odds were stacked against Kent - but that was reckoning without the determination and skill of Walker and McLaren.

They took Kent to within a whisker of claiming a place in the last four, only for McLaren to be well held by Tremlett, running in under a very high ball in the penultimate over from Udal, and Walker then stumbled at the very last.